Kentucky’s Senate President says a GOP colleague does NOT have legal immunity from being charged with drunk driving.
The Courier-Journal reports that Robert Stivers made the comments after an attorney for Senator Brandon Smith of Hazard filed a motion seeking to dismiss charges against his client.
The lawyer says Smith, who was arrested for DUI on the first day of the legislative session, has immunity under a provision in the state constitution that prohibits lawmakers from being arrested while the legislature is in session.
But Senate President Stivers publicly disagreed with Smith’s interpretation, issuing a statement that said “no member of the General Assembly is above the law.”
Stivers said that while the state constitution afforded some degree of immunity, it clearly didn’t apply in the Smith’s DUI case.